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Scotty Bowman

Adapting To The Modern Game



Bowman worked well with Pittsburgh coach Bob Johnson, who was as upbeat and outgoing as Bowman was aloof and non-communicative. Johnson led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 1991, but the following summer he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Bowman was named interim coach and quickly realized that his demanding, disciplinarian style would not work with a team accustomed to Johnson's positive, laid back, nonconfrontational ways. The game had changed in the two decades since Bowman began his reign with the Canadiens, and he would have to change, as well. "I was aware that if I coached the way I had in the past it wouldn't have had the same results," he said. "I knew I had to be different." In the '92 playoffs, the Penguins won eleven straight games, a post-season record, and claimed their second straight Stanley Cup. It was Bowman's sixth as head coach.



Awards and Accomplishments

1958 Memorial Cup, the top prize in junior hockey (as member of Junior Canadiens' coaching staff)
1969-70 Western Division title (St. Louis Blues)
1973, 1976-79 Stanley Cup (Montreal Canadiens)
1977 Jack Adams Award for Best Coach
1991 Stanley Cup (as director of player personnel with the Pittsburgh Penguins)
1991 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee
1992 Stanley Cup (as Penguins' head coach)
1993, 1996 Victor Award for NHL Coach of the Year
1996 Jack Adams Award for Best Coach
1997-98, 2002 Stanley Cup (Red Wings)
2001 Lester Patrick Award for outstanding service to hockey in the United States
2002 Retired from coaching with records for most Stanley Cup Championships as head coach (nine); most regular season wins (1,244); most playoff wins (223); most regular season games coached (2,141); and only coach to lead three different teams to the Stanley Cup.

Additional topics

Famous Sports StarsHockeyScotty Bowman Biography - Influences And Injury, From Player To Coach, Chronology, Learning From A Legend, Five Cups In Montreal - CONTACT INFORMATION